The present invention concerns an apparatus for storing and transporting piece goods, in particular articles whose dimensions in at least one or two mutually perpendicular directions are clearly larger than in the remaining third direction in space, wherein the articles are received in substantially U-shaped pockets which are formed from a flexible web material and which are arranged in a support stand or frame, wherein the pockets are suspended at one or more points in the proximity of their upper edge.
Apparatuses of that kind have already long been known, for example from German patent applications Nos P 41 58 507 and 195 49 166.
In the known apparatuses, the U-shaped pockets are formed by a long web of material which is laid in a plurality of loops which are suspended for example on bars or rods which are arranged at a spacing in succession so that accordingly the web of material is laid transversely over a first bar, extends downwardly and then extends upwardly again in a U-shape, is then laid over the next bar, and so forth. The portions which are hung over the bars can be sewn off in that case so that they form closed loops, through which the carrier bars extend so that the web of material cannot slip on those bars in the longitudinal direction thereof and thus the U-shaped pockets are always of the same length or depth.
In addition those U-shaped pockets can also be formed in many other ways. Examples in that respect are shown in German patent application Nos 198 26 429.1, 198 57 575.0 and 199 03 297.1 which have not yet been published at the date of the present application. In particular the side walls of the pockets can be extended downwardly so that the result overall is an H-shape, or a plurality of U-shaped pockets which are arranged one above the other can be arranged in vertically mutually superposed relationship and connected together so that the above-mentioned U-shape or H-shape is repeated a number of times and the respective lower pockets are closed at their top side by the bottom of the pocket thereabove. The pockets can also be formed from individual webs of substantially the same shape and size, in each of which the lower end of a web adjacent to a first web is bent over in a J-shape and connected to the corresponding adjacent web, and so forth.
Corresponding apparatuses are used for example in the automobile industry for receiving bodywork parts and installation components such as for example door claddings, side doors, rear doors or tailgate doors and engine compartment hoods and also for many other forms of piece goods. The advantage of corresponding apparatuses is that they are relatively quick and easy to load and unload, that generally no additional packaging and damping material is required if the pockets themselves are formed from a sufficiently soft flexible material, which prevents damage to the delicate surfaces of articles to be transported, and that each article can be individually accommodated in a pocket and thus does not rub against and damage other articles. In that respect, a support stand or frame can simultaneously accommodate a plurality of corresponding pockets in a clearly reviewable arrangement and, depending on the respective configuration of the frame or support stand, each pocket is also individually accessible, more specifically either from an open top side or from at least one of the ends of the U-shaped pockets.
It will be appreciated that the frame or the support stand can also be such that it can be folded together to collapse it and, as the pockets comprise flexible web material, they can generally also be easily collapsed down together and folded so that in the empty condition the apparatus can also be transported in a very space-saving fashion.
Nonetheless problems still occur in use of corresponding apparatuses, and the aim of the present invention is to resolve such problems.
It can happen for example, in particular when the articles to be accommodated in the pockets are not of a flat level shape but are of somewhat more complicated shapes, as would be the case for example with engine hoods or the like of motor vehicles, that the pocket, after receiving the article or by virtue of receiving the article, suffers deformation somewhat and as a result adjacent pockets which are still empty also deform in such a way that the loading openings of the pockets become difficult to access, in other words for example an adjacent empty pocket is so deformed at a lateral loading opening thereof or also in its upper region that the insertion of a similar article or also another article into that empty pocket causes difficulties and is only possible by virtue of the loading opening being additionally held open with a hand. Conversely this can also interfere with removal of the individual articles from the pockets.
A further problem of the known apparatuses is also the fact that, when dealing with articles of an irregular shape, even if they are substantially two-dimensional and flat, nonetheless they cannot assume a clearly defined, stable position in the pockets because their lower edge does not afford sufficiently spaced-apart, well-defined contact support points so that such articles slip and tilt in the pockets and as a result a portion thereof possibly projects from one of the lateral loading openings so that there is the risk of damage during transportation of the apparatus with those articles because the articles are not accommodated in a completely protected condition in the pockets.